The Rialto Theater was a

movie theater A movie theater (American English) or cinema (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as a movie house, cinema hall, picture house, picture theater, the movies, the pictures, or simply theater, is a business ...

at 1424 Douglas Street in

Downtown Omaha Downtown Omaha is the central business, government and social core of the Omaha–Council Bluffs metropolitan area, U.S. state of Nebraska. The boundaries are Omaha, Nebraska, Omaha's 20th Street on the west to the Missouri River on the east ...

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

. The building was razed in 1986 and the site paved over for use as a parking lot. The property was later redeveloped as part of the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad's headquarters building.

History

The 2,500-seat theater was designed by John Latenser & Sons for the Blank Realty Company. The general contractor was Calvin Ziegler. The theater was of

steel frame Steel frame is a building technique with a "skeleton frame" of vertical steel columns and horizontal I-beams, constructed in a rectangular grid to support the floors, roof and walls of a building which are all attached to the frame. The develop ...

construction with

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

and

masonry Masonry is the craft of building a structure with brick, stone, or similar material, including mortar plastering which are often laid in, bound, and pasted together by mortar (masonry), mortar. The term ''masonry'' can also refer to the buildin ...

walls. The theater's exterior was of old ivory and

terra cotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based Vitrification#Ceramics, non-vitreous ceramicOED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used ...

, with accents of

polychrome Polychrome is the "practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, pottery, or sculpture in multiple colors. When looking at artworks and ...

blues and reds. There were three prominent arches for advertising over the theater's diagonal corner entrance. Features included a nursery with an attendant, a screening room and large orchestra space with a

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurised air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a Musical keyboard, keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single tone and pitch, the pipes are provide ...

. Store fronts were built along the street level and business offices were available on the second level. The total investment in the building and its outfitting was estimated in 1917 at $300,000. The theater, built primarily for movies, opened to the public on Memorial Day, May 30, 1918. The inaugural movie was '' Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman'', starring

John Barrymore John Barrymore (born John Sidney Blyth; February 14 or 15, 1882 – May 29, 1942) was an American actor on stage, screen, and radio. A member of the Drew and Barrymore theatrical families, he initially tried to avoid the stage, and briefly a ...

and

Evelyn Brent Evelyn Brent (born Mary Elizabeth Riggs; October 20, 1895 – June 4, 1975) was an American film and stage actress. Early life Brent was born in Tampa, Florida and known as "Betty." When she was 10 years old, her mother Eleanor ( Warner) die ...

. Initially built for

silent movies A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, wh ...

, the theater was eventually converted to

talking movies A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed befo ...

. The theater closed suddenly on August 2, 1929 and was subsequently sub-divided into several retail establishments. Its later uses included a

bus station A bus station, bus depot, or bus interchange is a structure where city buses or intercity buses stop to pick up and drop off passengers. A bus station is larger than a bus stop, which is usually simply a place on the roadside, where buses can st ...

, a

bowling alley A bowling alley (also known as a bowling center, bowling lounge, bowling arena, or historically bowling club) is a facility where the sport of bowling is played. It can be a dedicated facility or part of another, such as a clubhouse or dwelling ...

, a retail clothing store and a

cafeteria A cafeteria, called canteen outside the U.S., is a type of food service location in which there is little or no waiting staff table service, whether in a restaurant or within an institution such as a large office building or school; a scho ...

before its eventual demolition in February 1986. The theater's large organ was acquired by

Omaha Central High School Omaha Central High School, originally known as Omaha High School, is a fully accredited public high school located in downtown Omaha, Nebraska, United States. It is one of many public high schools located in Omaha. As of the 2023–2024 academi ...

with plans to install it in the school's auditorium. That plan was never executed upon and the organ was later dismantled and sold for

scrap Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap can have monetary value, especially recover ...

. In Season 1, Episode 14, “The Phantom of the Horse Opera,” of the television program, “That Girl”, the Rialto theater is mentioned in the dialogue. One of the characters owns an old organ, and he mentions acquiring it from “...The Rialto Theater in Omaha, NE...”Internet Movie Database
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References

External links

Rialto Theater
at Cinema Treasures
Street View of Rialto Theater
{{Movie theaters in Omaha, Nebraska Theatres in Omaha, Nebraska Theatres completed in 1918 History of Omaha, Nebraska Downtown Omaha, Nebraska Demolished buildings and structures in Omaha, Nebraska Cinemas and movie theaters in Omaha, Nebraska Former cinemas in the United States Buildings and structures demolished in 1986

History

See also

References

External links